Latest initiatives and experiences driving tourism in Alberta
Episode Stats
Summary
Learn English with Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis and Minister of Tourism and Sports, Joseph Scow, and CEO of Telus Spark, Roderick Tate, discuss the importance of investing in Alberta's tourism industry.
Transcript
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Thank you very much and good afternoon everyone thank you for joining us here today I am Mike
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Ellis I am the Deputy Premier of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services and
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your MC for today's and this afternoon's event so first I just want to acknowledge that we are
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gathered here today on the Tree Seven Territory, home to the Blackfoot Confederacy of the Siksika
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Nation, the Kainai, the Pekani, as well as the Tsutina and Stoney Nakoda Nations of Berespa,
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Chinnakee, and of course Westland. This area also has a deep importance to the people and
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the Métis Nation of Alberta. It's my pleasure to be your emcee for this afternoon's announcement
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held at this amazing venue, the Telespark Center. As in the MLA for Calgary, I can tell you how
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fitting it is to be holding this event here at the Telespark Science Center. This tremendous
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facility enriches the experiences of those who call Calgary home, but also attracts visitors
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from Alberta and of course beyond, which contribute to the vibrancy of our community's economy.
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To kick off today's exciting announcement, I would like to invite my friend,
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the alberta's minister of tourism and sports minister joseph scow to the podium
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i get a kick of that every i get a kick out of that every time
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uh thank you minister ellis i appreciate you joining us today and being our emcee and thank
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you everyone for joining us today for this amazing announcement it is a great day to
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talk about tourism in alberta because alberta's visitor economy is booming in 2022 we saw 10.7
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billion dollars of visitor spending in alberta that's up 600 million dollars in 2019 that means
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that we have yes both matched and surpassed our pre-pandemic spending levels and we're supporting
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this growth by investing more than 20 million dollars this year to support tourism growth
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across alberta this investment supports our more promising future for tourism in alberta
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it's a commitment to create more opportunities ensure that the benefits of tourism reach every
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corner of our province in our communities and showcase alberta to the rest of the world
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because alberta has an amazing story to tell and people across canada and across the world
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want to hear it as part of travel alberta's tourism investment program this funding has
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already supported a number of exciting projects across the province including support for this
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beautiful facility the telus spark science center which attracts hundreds of thousands
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of visitors from across canada and even beyond our borders and outside our newly completed ring
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road here in calgary we're supporting a number of other cool projects like metis crossing a
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metis cultural center and boutique hotel the yamnisko wolf dog sanctuary and charm resorts
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in crow's nest pass these investments drive local economies and allow albertans to share the best of
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what this province has to offer the rest of the world and as we look forward to our bold and
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ambitious goal of growing alberta's visitor economy to over 20 billion dollars a year by 2035
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alberta's government will continue to prioritize tourism because we know that tourism means jobs
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and careers by investing to develop new products and experiences we are creating economic
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opportunities across alberta and we're helping tourism operators show visitors we know that
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what we already know about this province that is alberta and alberta is the best place to live
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to play and to visit and ask who does it better than us nobody thank you very much
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all right great job thank you very much minister scowl uh next i'd like to welcome
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the CEO of TELUS Spark, Mr. Roderick Tate. Sir, come on up. Thank you.
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Well, I'm grateful for the box. Thank you. And thank you, Minister Ellis, Minister Skow.
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It's my great pleasure to welcome all of you today and also to express our gratitude and
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thanks to the province of Alberta for their generous support of the great work that we
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that we get to participate in, in Alberta here.
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Specifically through the Travel Alberta's Tourism Growth Fund,
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it allowed for us to welcome our newest robot to our robot family.
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And behind me here is Rosie, the first ever robot coaster in Canada.
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Yes, not only is Rosie an amazing marvel of engineering and innovation,
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And again, it really demonstrates not only the culture and personality
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of who we are as Albertans, but gives us an opportunity to engage with people
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of all walks of life to discuss with them share with them and open conversations about why science
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is important to all of us and not only do we want to take that message and share it with our community
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we want to extend that across the planet and it's through initiatives like these that allow
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us to continue to again demonstrate Albertans and our our innovation and our ability to be
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creative in the way that we engage in meaningful conversations you know we do believe that at the
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center of everything here it's an intersection of science and entertainment it inspires people from
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all walks of life again to be engaged in conversations and these conversations really
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start to foster a sense of curiosity and we believe that curiosity here is very important
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at telespark it's the foundation of learning discovery and innovation it really is the
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heartbeat of science and we believe so much in curiosity well we've got a capital campaign in
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which we want to continue to build on that we're actively pursuing 45 million dollars for us to
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continue to champion that message to build on incredible successes like this pro uh this uh
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rosie behind us here and for us to continue to demonstrate how alberta is a place for all to
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come and celebrate and enjoy as a part of the tourism economy and making alberta a great
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destination so again i want to express our heartfelt gratitude to the province of alberta
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and all of our guests who come and join us on a day-to-day basis and thank you for that support
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as we continue on our journey thank you fantastic thank you very much rod uh you know my kids love
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the telus uh spark center here and i know other kids and families uh love it as well here so i'm
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so proud i'm so proud to be part of a government that is committed to supporting tourism operators
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that create amazing experiences that we have in calgary and really right across this province and
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the outstanding work that minister minister scow and his team does on a daily basis alberta is
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uh amazing uh it's a tourism operator for tourism operators and entrepreneurs that help albertans
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canadians and quite frankly the rest of the world to create lifelong memories in every corner of our
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city and every corner of this province so with that i will conclude this i'd like to pass now
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uh pass the mic over to kevin lee the press secretary for minister in tourism
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and we'll do a q a portion there minister scow come on up
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right we're now going to open up the floor for questions from the media before going to the
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phones please state your name outlet and please keep it a one question one follow-up
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so kevin just just what if you don't mind please i think it's very important to understand that
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the you know part of a vibrant economy economy is is projects like this uh the stuff that we are
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doing um even in regards to public safety to make sure that people feel safe within the city of
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calgary the city of edmonton and quite frankly the province of alberta so that we can have that
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vibrant economy so that we can have the tourism that what minister minister scow is doing to
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make sure that we have people from not just from alberta but right around canada and quite frankly
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internationally that are coming to calgary and quite frankly to alberta as a place of destination
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and on behalf of course premier smith thank you to tell spark for everything that you do
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again i'll reiterate my kids just love it here and i have to say thank you again to minister
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scowl with the outstanding work that him and his team do on a daily basis you know some of the
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stuff that he does maybe sometimes doesn't get recognized but i can tell you that he is turning
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absolutely alberta into a place that is the a destination uh for for people from around the
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world to come and with that we'll conclude kevin thank you very much for your time everybody
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right that concludes the press conference thank you all for coming